Entity · literary_spirit
Ashmedai
A reference page linking a name, group, or concept to the materials that discuss it.
The 'king of demons' in the Babylonian Talmud's Gittin 68 story about Solomon and the shamir.
Text
Ashmedai is a figure in a Talmudic story composed many centuries after the time conventionally assigned to Solomon. In Gittin 68a, he is sought as someone who might know where to find the shamir, which can cut Temple stone without an iron tool. Benaiah son of Jehoiada tricks him with wine and binds him with a chain inscribed with a divine name. [1]
In Gittin 68b, Ashmedai tells Solomon that a bird rendered as the hoopoe holds the shamir; later in the same story their relationship reverses. These are events in the Talmudic narrative. The QuranQuranCentral text of Islam, used here as evidence of its religious discourse.Glossary · Click to read the explanation does not name Ashmedai in its passages about Solomon and the jinn. [2][3]
References and notes
- The specified source portion only; this does not imply reading the entire book. Gittin 68a:7–13 read through public API. Return to the text ↑
- The specified source portion only; this does not imply reading the entire book. Gittin 68b:5–8 and 14–20 read through public API. Return to the text ↑
- The specified source portion only; this does not imply reading the entire book. Solomon/jinn Quranic passage already checked in the article's source review; no claim that all Quranic Solomon passages were reread here. Return to the text ↑
Research history
Substantive changes are retained here. Minor copy edits remain in the internal operational log.
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Cite this record
IL Archive, «Ashmedai», Edition 3, https://ilarchive.com/en/entities/ashmedai